pohang is down near ulsan and not far from kyongju. it's also not far from pusan, but you know that already by looking at the map. kyongju, as you also probably know, is a fantastic place if archaeology and ruins are your disneyland. it was the silla capitol for a thousand years, and the kings were big buddhists who contracted monuments be built. these are scattered in natural splendour about the area. some people make it a hobby to 'culturally orienteer' about all the out of the way effigies of the buddha. carved on cliffs up high, in valleys, etc. but there was a thread in which one poster determined that he (or was it she, one can't really tell) wouldn't take a job for it's location. the priority is the job situation, the deal with all its facets. a person can always travel on the weekend. if you don't mind living in a little city, you could visit kyongju on the weekends. besides cheju it's the top tourist destination. and pusan. i did some homework re korea instead of just sticking a pin in a map. this can be debated/discussed, but the south (it seems) has a reputation for some down home country flavour, sometimes including teachers in a pot!l (maybe those foreign teachers just didn't have a sense of humour?! )

Well when I was in Pohang for a few months in 1998 it was nothing great. I lived near a sewer that smelled pretty bad, and had a few cockroaches in the apartment. It was the summer and the heat and humidity was wicked some days, and others it would rain acid rain, so your skin would itch with just a t-shirt on. The beach was across from the steel factories and the air was the dirtiest I have ever experienced, including Taipei and Bangkok. And the people were not too friendly really, or so it seemed to me, conservative, and obviously unaccustomed to foreigners. Other than that the Postech campus looked nice. It's a small place so you can get around easily. But pretty much a dirty and boring hicktown.

this place has to be the biggest sXXXhole in Kr!!makes steeltowns like Hamilton, ON & Pittsburgh, PA look like the Maldives!the choking air pollution, acid rain, and the garbage strewn beaches that Korean tourists flock 2 in the summer r unreal!

also be sure to check out Pohang's kool store; "Hitler-man's total fashion".the owner uses the name to sell American style Hip hop wear to teenagers!

I lived in Pohang for a year. It wasn't that bad, especially for a first contract. There's quite a good, big, friendly community of foreigners & other ex-pats living there now. They do a lot of stuff together. It was really easy to meet people (a lot easier than in Seoul) and I made a lot of Korean and foreign friends very quickly. I joined a foreigner friendly Taekwondo class so I had something to do every night.

When I first considered going to Korea, I looked at jobs in Seoul and looked at jobs in more rural areas. I thought that I'd have a better chance of making friends and, getting to know my way around if I was in a smaller town. I chose a more rural area. I went to Seoul for a weekend and when I came back, I cried! I really did, and for the stupidest reason. There is NO interior design in Pohang ANYwhere (though some claim to) and I went to Seoul and there were places were cutting edge interior design and I didn't realise until then, how much I missed an aesthetic environment... and I'm not even into interior design.

There's about 3 or 4 bars downtown where the foreigners hang out, but if you're not into drinking, there's not much else to do! I'm living in Seoul now and Pohang is soooooo boring and culturally dead by comparison. But I think, had I lived in Seoul, I'd never have left and explored other parts of Korea. But because Pohang was so boring, I went somewhere else at least once, if not twice a month for a weekend.

It's close to Pusan, Kyeongu and Daegu and cheap to get there so I often visited these cities, especially if I was craving a bit of western food. A beautiful mountain temple, Pogyeongsa is also not far and a wonderful day out of hiking and soaking up a bit of fresh air.

Speaking of Western food, if you love (decent) Western food, you won't find any of it in Pohang. I tried and consistently failed. The air is pretty polluted because of POSCO but I survived OK, constant colds in Winter though, but I'm not sure whether POSCO or the unfamiliar climate was to blame (I'm an Aussie, brrrrr). I taught at a hogwan and most of students parents worked at POSCO which made teaching occupations a little dull... "My father's an engineer at POSCO..." over and over again. Oh, you have to carry an umbrella at all times in Summer. I didn't have itchy skin problems but I often thought of what pollutants were in that rain. Gross.

There are some great beaches about an hour north and south of Pohang. I wouldn't swim in the beaches close to Pohang, though lots of locals do. Gross. You can look out across the beach and see the mammoth steel mill pumping out its fumes... swimming? No thanks, I don't care how hot it is.

Lots of good Korean restaurants, Noray Bungs, Nightculbs etc if that's your thing. It really is a big country town and I even picked up a Pohang accent and apparently sound (when speaking Korean that is) as though I'm from the country. Some of the non-English speaking locals were a little dubious of us foreigners but I didn't have any problems. The taxi drivers were always great and helpful and people thought it was hilarious when I practiced my Korean and this didn't bother me at all. I thought I was hilarious too...

There's a big US Marine base (or two?) in Pohang and there's a lot of marines based there full time and from time to time ships come in from other areas and the town is full of short haired, big shouldered guys and when that happens, it's like you've stepped into another world. If you get in good with some of the guys, they can get you pretty much anything western your heart desires.

I know some teachers who have worked for very dodgy directors (I know that Korea is full of them and Pohang is no worse) so be careful when choosing your school. Like captain kirk said, it's not so much your location, it's the job and environment you work & live in that's more important. I think Pohang is a good location to travel from and see a bit of Korea. I'm in Seoul now and can't see myself leaving anytime soon. There's just too much to see and do here. If you want to email me off line and tell me what school you're looking at, I'll ask around my buddies who are still in Pohang and get any goss on your school that I can.

And "Hitler-man's total fashion" store is quite a hoot, so is the "Wonder Woman" store with it's freaky tshirts. But I've gotta say, the Hitler store is even more bizarre than the "Coyote Ugly" bar. Is it just me and Pohang, or do they Koreans you know get off on this movie in a bigger way than you think is healthy???

I live in Pohang and have been here for about 6 months. Its cool, there is a good group of teachers who get trashed every weekend. It is a boring place, but only if you are a boring person. I pass the time learning fencing or going to the gym. Lifes what u make it etc etc